


Rendering

by cleanlittlesecret



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: Gen, VRAINS Week 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-11
Updated: 2018-07-11
Packaged: 2019-06-08 23:10:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15254130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cleanlittlesecret/pseuds/cleanlittlesecret
Summary: Ai and Flame fiddle with their programming, and Takeru gets embarrassed.(Written for the prompt "school uniforms.")





	Rendering

The food truck’s door let out a breath of stale air as it opened, and Kusanagi frowned as he squinted into the stuffy darkness. Clear sunlight illuminated the road that ran near the Ferris wheel, but only the pale glow of a single computer screen lit Café Nagi’s inside. “Ai? Flame? Is everything okay in here?”

“Kusanagi!” an electronic voice cheered, and Kusanagi’s eyes adjusted enough to find the two Duel Disks sitting a careful distance apart on the computer’s keyboard just as Ai popped into view with his clasped hands held to where his mouth should be. “You’re worried about me? How touching!”

“With how quiet it was in here, I thought Flame might have finally strangled you.”

Ai’s entire frame curved into a slump. “Ah. I see.” His hands relocated to his hips as he looked at the computer screen. “Well, everything’s fine in here. The updates finished installing a good while ago.”

“They did?” Kusanagi climbed into the truck to check the screen. Sure enough, all the progress bars had filled to completion, so he set about closing the update windows and ejecting the Duel Disks from the computer. As he waited for the connections to close, Kusanagi glanced at Takeru’s Duel Disk. “Is something wrong, Flame?”

An oversized eye appeared on the Duel Disk’s screen and blinked. “Ah, Kusanagi. Please excuse my rudeness. I was in hiding because you locked me in this room with someone who wouldn’t shut up, and I couldn’t stand to hear his annoying voice anymore.”

Ai leaned towards the other Duel Disk. “No one else is in here, so you might as well say it’s me you’re talking about.”

Kusanagi shook his head. “Start all that again, and I’ll lock you two in the glovebox for a time-out.” He picked up the Duel Disks and headed towards the door. “So what were you talking about earlier, Ai?” Flame groaned through his speaker as Ai perked.

“I was  _trying_  to tell Flame about different ways we can change our projected forms—observe.” Ai sank from sight, but just as Kusanagi stepped from the truck, light burst from the screen and almost made him drop both Duel Disks onto the brick pavers. The light cleared to reveal Ai, now dressed in a miniature copy of Den City High School’s uniform as he threw his arms into the air. “Ta-da! Guess who I am!”

With his open jacket, loose necktie, and unbuttoned collar, the answer was obvious.

“Yuusaku, right? That’s pretty good.”

“What’s pretty good?” Takeru asked. He and Yuusaku had been sitting at one end of a table beside the food truck as they read something on a tablet, and when they looked up, Yuusaku’s scowl deepened.

“Ai, what are you doing?”

Ai help up a finger. “First, I can edit my body’s programming to modify the way I look. Second—”

“It’s not too late to delete you.”

Kusanagi bit back a smile as he set the Duel Disks onto the table and reclaimed his seat across from the boys. “Come on now. You know what they say about imitation being flattery.” Yuusaku’s eyes narrowed as Takeru grinned, but before either of them could speak, Ai raised a hand towards them.

“I can look other ways too!” Another flash of light changed him into the female uniform—skirt, heart-shaped tie clip, and all—and Ai struck a pose that looked like it belonged in a magical-girls show. “How do I look?”

“Adorable,” Kusanagi said.

“Don’t encourage him, Kusanagi-san,” Yuusaku said as Ai squealed, “Really?!” Takeru laughed until a loud sigh burst from his Duel Disk.

“How annoying,” Flame said with his eye closed.

Ai glared towards the screen. “What was that?”

“Clowning around in human clothes—you’re an embarrassment to the Ignises. I can’t stand even to be seen with you.”

“ _Flame._ ” Takeru lowered his voice. “Don’t be mean. He’s just having a little fun.”

“Hmph.” Ai looked away. “He’s just jealous because he can’t change like I can.”

Flame’s eye snapped open to glare at him. “What makes you think I can’t?”

“Because you refuse to do it,” Ai said. “You’re acting all high-horsey, but the truth is you don’t know how to edit your body like this.”

“I do too!”

“Prove it.”

Flame closed his eye. “I refuse to sink to your level.”

“Says the guy hiding in a Duel Disk that’s over ten years old.” Ai looked at him. “Prove me wrong or live with the consequences.”

Flame’s eye slit open. “You wouldn’t dare.”

Ai crossed his arms, and a roar of burning static and screeching feedback erupted from his speaker. All three humans flinched back and slapped their hands over their ears while Flame’s image wiggled and blurred, and the sound of flapping wings rippled around them as unseen birds bolted from the area.

“Ai, what the hell is that?” Kusanagi yelped.

“The consequences,” Ai chirped over the audio equivalent of fire and brimstone. “I was the only one in Cyberse World who could do this. It’s a good way to drive the other Ignises nuts.”

Grimacing, Kusanagi watched a fleeing seagull fly over the ocean towards the horizon. “And everyone else.”

At this rate, they were sure to get a noise complaint filed against them, but just as Yuusaku started to reach across the table to mute the Duel Disk, hurl it into the sea, or both, Flame snapped, “ _Enough!_ ” The noise cut off, and as the humans sighed in the fresh quiet, Flame’s eye stabilized into another glare. “Fine! If you are going to be this childish about it, then I will prove you wrong, but don’t cry about it to me later.” A light flashed and drew every eye to his screen, but when Flame popped into view, Takeru slammed his hands on the table.

“Flame!”

“What? Did I get something wrong?” Flame twisted to check out his new outfit—a sailor suit with shorts instead of a skirt.

Ai tilted his head. “That doesn’t look anything like the high school’s uniforms.”

“Correct. It’s something much better than that boring suit you’re wearing.” Flame crossed his arms and shifted his weight. “Takeru wore this outfit many years ago. Cool, isn’t it?”

“ _Flame!_ ” But it was too late, the secret had already been revealed, and when the others looked at him, Takeru burned to a red that came close to the shade of his own hair and hid his face in his hands. “I wore that when I was very,  _very_  little because my grandmother liked it. How do you even know about that?”

“Remember that time you connected this Duel Disk to your grandparents’ computer?” Flame puffed out his chest. “I found some pictures.”

“You’re cruel,” Takeru muttered through his palms.

Ai brought a hand to his chin. “Hmm. That’s kind of cute. Yuusaku, why aren’t your school’s uniforms this cute?”

Instead of answering, Yuusaku reached over and muted his speaker. “This is a waste of time. We have work to do.” Ai looked up as if to say something, but when no sound came out, he glanced around the screen and dropped to his knees to smack the Duel Disk.

Flame chuckled. “Finally. The annoying voice has been silenced.” Ai bolted upright to shake a fist at him, but Flame turned his head to ignore the gesture.

Takeru lowered his hands. “I wouldn’t gloat if I were you. That Duel Disk has a mute button too, you know.”

Flame stiffened. “Ah. Right. I’ll take my leave then.” He made quick bows to Yuusaku and Kusanagi before disappearing into his Duel Disk, and after many fruitless attempts to reactivate his speaker, Ai sunk into his own screen to sulk as an eyeball. With that line of conversation ended, Kusanagi moved his chair around the table to see what was on the screen of Yuusaku’s tablet.

“So what were you two talking about while I was gone?”


End file.
